If the Australian cricketers involved in a ball-tampering scandal manage to return to the game, and do so triumphantly, it is likely they will be forgiven – and some may even forget their role in it.
Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft and team captain Steve Smith.
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There are all sorts of ways of making a cricket ball swing, but Australia’s players chose an illegal one.
Australian captain Steve Smith hits the pitch after being caught off balance from a delivery during the Australia v England Ashes Test in January 2018.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Australia’s cricketers were once known as tough but fair, but the latest ball tampering scandal has many asking how some of the leading players could have stooped so low.
In happier times: Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith talk to the media during the victorious Ashes series.
AAP/Darren England
Altering the condition of the match ball is against the rules of the sport, contrary to ‘the spirit of cricket’, and deemed to be ‘unfair’. It is a form of cheating.